Prates says Lula did not give orders on Petrobras dividends and sees ‘a lot of foam’ in the discussion

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President of Petrobras meets with Lula this Monday (11), but guarantees that the conversation was already scheduled and was not called after the company lost R$55.3 billion in market value last week. President of Petrobras says that Lula did not give orders about dividends and sees ‘a lot of foam’ in the discussion The president of Petrobras, Jean Paul Prates, spoke this Monday (11) exclusively to the blog and Estúdio i about the decision to postpone the distribution of extraordinary dividends to shareholders. Last Friday, the company lost R$55.3 billion in market value after frustrating shareholders’ expectations. 📈 This Monday, Petrobras’ preferred shares (without voting rights) were rising around 1% at around 1:45 pm. Ordinary shares (with voting rights) were falling 0.35% at the same time. Prates said that the decision did not come from President Lula (PT). “The president did not give any order on the issue of dividends. We are discussing this with the majority shareholder within the space possible. There was a discussion in time for the announcement of the balance sheet, there was a need to close the balance sheet. And it was decided that we would postpone the discussion,” he said. VALDO: Lula and Petrobras: internal dispute for control of the state-owned company irritates investors and harms the National Treasury’s coffers UNDERSTAND: why the state-owned company’s shares plummeted on Friday Dividends are a portion of the company’s profit that is shared among shareholders. The 2023 financial statement was released on Thursday (7) and, in addition to coming in below projections, it also frustrated market expectations — which expected a payment of extraordinary dividends. R$14.2 billion in dividends were announced for the quarter, within the company’s minimum payment model. The Petrobras Board of Directors even proposed the payment of extraordinary dividends to shareholders, a larger share of the profit. But government representatives voted against the proposal, which was ultimately rejected. The president of Petrobras says that they will have to decide what to do with the dividends, but explains that the extraordinary dividends remaining from 2023 “cannot be used for anything else” and says that the discussion “is foam”. “We are left with that decision pending. Extraordinary dividends, it should be said, are distributed 100% to all shareholders, including the government, which has 37% of it, or everything remains in a reserve account. I went with the board for an intermediate proposal, a 50% to 50% proposal. We divide one half, distribute it, after all, these shareholders also believed in our management”, says Prates. Despite Prates’ denial to the blog, O Globo columnist Malu Gaspar found that Lula personally arbitrated in the Petrobras dispute and decided that the company would not pay an extra dividend. The president defined that everyone on the board should vote with the government, that is: against the dividends. Despite this, Prates did not follow the instructions and abstained from voting. The stance motivated a wing of the Lula 3 government to push for Prates’ departure from command of the company. Meeting with Lula Regarding the meeting with Lula this Monday, Prates says that it was already a scheduled appointment and does not focus on the issue of dividends. “This update with the president was agreed for today. Of course, the subject of dividends should come up at the end of the meeting and we will talk a little about it, but that is not the objective of the meeting”, he concludes.

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